Tuesday, 22 November 2016

DIY PomPom Christmas Wreath

I really love to make handmade things, especially at Christmas time. Whether it be for myself or gifts for others, it's a time of year I really enjoy being creative.

This year I really set my heart on making my very own handmade Christmas wreath and after having seen some pompom ones online last year I have been determined to create my own ever since.

I've had a love affair with my pompom makers for some time now. Some crafty friends invited me along to a pompom making night last year and I have been addicted ever since! They're just so easy to make and something you can do whilst chilling out and watching TV. It really doesn't involve a huge amount of skill and yet you can create something so beautiful from them and the opportunities are endless.

Before You Start

First things first, you will need some pom pom makers. I bought mine really cheaply from Amazon and they really were money well spent. They work great and I love that I can create all different sizes with the set I bought.

You will also need your wreath base. You have the option of making one out of any left over cardboard you may have in your recycling boxes, or you can pick up a polystyrene one like this quite cheaply from Hobby Craft.

You then need to decide how you are going to stick your pompoms to your wreath. I found this glue gun in Flying Tiger and decided that it was the best option for me. It worked really well at fusing the pompoms to the polystyrene wreath and to each other. I did however get through quite a few glue sticks and I had to go back for more so if you are going to go for this method I would recommend stocking up on glue sticks so you don't run out mid project.

Next up you'll need to decide on your colour scheme and what yarn you would like to use.

Obviously as a vegan I don't use any animal based products so all the wool I chose to use is completely synthetic. You can browse some online shops like Wool Warehouseand Wool 4 Less who clearly label their synthetic yarns. Or you can pop to your local wool shop to see what they might have. It is sometimes nice to see what you want to buy in person and feel what it's like.

The majority of yarn I used for this project I actually randomly picked up from the Sue Ryder charity shop. I had no idea they sell brand new balls of wool but they do! The other perk to using synthetic wools is that they're usually much cheaper than animal based ones.

With regards to the colour scheme I chose to steer away from any bright and bold colours as I have lived and learned a lesson with Christmas projects. Last year, which was my first year of getting crafty, I opted for the first Christmas colours which sprung to mind - so green, red and white. Once my balls of wool arrived I just couldn't get past how much the colours reminded me of an Italian restaurant! Lets just say they were way more Italian than Christmas. So this year i've done some research and looked for some inspo online with regards to colour schemes and i've realised that you can actually something very festive looking by using different variants of the same colour e.g if you chose different greens to put together it will look very nice and quite Christmas tree like.

I opted for varying degrees of white, cream and brown for my wreath. As soon as I picked my colours I could see that these looked way more festive than the colours I chose last year. I also decided to pick one colour which included some silver sparkle just to give it an extra festive feeling.

Along with the colour scheme, you also need to decide what weight yarn you would like to use. I ended up picking a variety as I liked the idea of having different textures to my wreath and I wanted different sized pompoms. It's worth me saying that as a general rule of thumb you would ideally use a chunkier yarn when making larger pompoms as you will soon realise that trying to create a large pompom with a lightweight yarn can take quite a long time. The chunkier the yarn the quicker this process will be for you! But then likewise, with the small pompoms you would be best choosing a lighter weight yarn. For this project I used Cygnet's Seriously Super Chunky yarn which worked a dream on my large pompoms and is super affordable.

Once all of that is sorted out it's time to get making!

Step one is basically make your pompoms. The following photographs demonstrate the process for making each pompom. Once you get into it it's pretty easy but don't worry if the first few you make take you a while whilst getting used to the process.

Start by simply wrapping your yarn around one half of your chosen pompom maker. Keep going until it's completely full of yarn like above. Then repeat the process on the opposite side of the pompom maker.

Next you will need to close your pompom maker and trim along the middle of each side.

It should end up looking something like this (above).

You then need to take a piece of yarn and pull it through the middle of the pompom maker and tie a knot.

I sometimes tie two or three knots just to make sure the pompom isn't going to fall apart on me once I open the maker up again.

Finally, pull apart your pompom maker and you should have a perfectly formed pompom!

You may like to trim any odd ends to get your pompom looking more even. If you were using the pompom as a decoration it would be handy to leave a small length of yarn connected to it but as we're using these ones for a wreath you can trim any longer ends away.

And then you basically need to just repeat that process over and over until you have enough pompoms to fill your wreath!

You can see from the following photos how my wreath developed over time and how it changed in appearance as I added more and more pompoms to it....

Once you have finished applying your pompoms to your wreath you also have the option of adding on some extra little decorations. I love the idea of adding on gold bells or tiny baubles! I think they look really cute and Christmassy. The choices are really endless and does come down to your own personal taste.

Because of my colour scheme I decided to add some pine cones to mine which I picked up from Hobbycraft. If you didn't already know, Hobbycraft actually have a fabulous section purely devoted to wreath making which is perfect if you're looking for some additional inspiration.

Once completed I decided that my wreath needed a little something extra and so I decided to add on some small gold bells which I picked up from Flying Tiger. They really helped my wreath to look even more festive and I also love the fact that when I close my front door they make a jingle bell noise!

In order to hang your wreath you will also need to fasten a hook or loop to the back of it. I have to admit that I found myself slightly dumbfounded at this point and as I wasn't following any instructions myself I had to mentally brainstorm how I could do this. In the end I cut a small piece of brown string and made a loop which I then stuck with my glue gun onto the back of the polystyrene base. Initially I wasn't really sure if this was going to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of my wreath but surprisingly it was.

I am SO happy with how my wreath turned out, it actually looks much better than I expected it to. Sometimes I even manage to impress myself! I think it looks really luxurious and quite different to anything you would find in the shops. When people ask me where I got it from i'll look forward to telling them that I made it myself!

I really hope you've enjoyed my first ever DIY blog post! I am quite crafty behind the scenes but it's not something I've ever decided to share on my blog before. If you'd like more blog posts like this just comment below and let me know! Also if you do make your own pompom wreath please send me a photo as i'd love to see some of your own creations.